Adult Education on the Rise

Many Americans have education in their short-term plans and the majority of working adults plan to take an online course to advance their careers, according to a recent survey from University of Phoenix, as nearly 90 percent of employed Americans reported they believe there is still room to grow in their current careers.

Forty-one percent of Americans who are not in school full time said they plan to return to school at some point in the future, with 64 percent of them expecting to do so in the next two years, the survey said.

Working adults are even more likely to return to school, as 54 percent said they will head back to school.

The survey found that nearly half (48 percent) of Americans said they are taking or will take an online class to advance their careers. The desire to take online courses is not limited to the youngest adults, however.

In fact, adults between the ages of 25-34 were most likely to say they are taking an online course or plan to in the future (74 percent), followed by those ages 18-24 (63 percent).

Fifty-eight percent of adults aged 35-44 said they plan to take an online course, followed by 46 percent of adults aged 45-54 and 21 percent of adults aged 55 or older.

Americans who are employed are even more likely to take online courses, according to the survey, with 59 percent of working adults saying they are taking such a course or plan to in the future.

Of these, 10 percent are taking an online course and more than half (52 percent) intend to do so within in the next 12 to 18 months.

Those with bachelor’s degrees cite tangible benefits in the workplace to having this level of education. More than three-quarters (78 percent) of those with a bachelor’s degree who have ever worked say their education positively influenced being hired, compared to 41 percent of their counterparts who have worked but never earned a bachelor’s degree.